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THE NELSON MAIL Wednesday, March 26, 2014 --- 3
THESE DEALS ARE AS GOOD AS THEY GET
Offer Available While Stocks Last. Offer Ends April 30th 2014. Not Available With Other Offers. Private Customers Only.
5983419AA
Continued Page 4
Goodbye boy racer:
hello sophisticated fun
It might be positioning itself as more sophisticated
than ever before, but the new fourth-generation
Subaru WRX is still a boy-racer at heart, says Rob
Maetzig after driving the car up New Zealand's
ultimate driveway.
Ultimate driveway: A Subaru WRX takes on one of the corners on Rod Millen's driveway at his Leadfoot
Ranch, Hahei.
Famous Kiwi motorsport ace Rod
Millen owns a large farm
property on Hahei on the
Coromandel Peninsula that he
has named Leadfoot Ranch.
It is an appropriate name,
considering that Millen is one of
the world's most skilled race
drivers. After beginning his
racing career on the New Zealand
rallying scene, he moved to the
US in 1978 and took that country
by storm -- particularly with his
successes in the spectacular Pikes
Peak hillclimb.
These days he divides his time
between his home and
motorsport business near Los
Angeles and his ranch at Hahei,
where he has constructed a long
driveway that doubles as -- you
guessed it -- a great hillclimb
venue.
Each year Millen opens his
driveway to the public so they
can enjoy what is known as the
Leadfoot Festival, a gathering of
classic cars, vintage models,
motorcycles and motorsport
legends who all have a go at
taking on the climb.
And now, for the first time as
far as I'm aware, it's been used as
the venue for the national launch
of a new car.
But not just any car -- I doubt
Millen would have allowed that.
It's the fourth-generation Subaru
WRX, the latest version of the
Japanese AWD performance car
that has been a motorsport icon
ever since the first model was
launched 22 ago.
Last week members of the
motoring media were handed
crash helmets and given the
opportunity to punt a WRX up the
1.6 kilometre hillclimb with its
narrow bridge, two humps,
hairpin bends and short
straights.
I grabbed an automatic -- yes,
for the first time there's an auto
WRX, fitted with a new version of
Subaru's Lineartronic
continuously variable
transmission that can be used
manually as an eight-speeder
using paddle shifts on the
steering wheel.
But I didn't bother with the
paddles. I simply put the
transmission into Drive, and
punched a button that activates a
Traction Mode that cancels the
car's stability and traction
controls but maintains a system
called Torque Vectoring Control
that improves cornering
performance by braking the inner
front wheel and distributing
torque to the outer front wheel.
And then it was a matter of
planting the accelerator and
using both hands to hang on as I
listened to words of advice from
an instructor on how best to
negotiate all the corners and